Fixed telephones: there are not many people on the other end of the line… apart from spam?

The French have never used their fixed telephone so little as during this last quarter of 2021, and the decline does not seem to be stopping.

All internet boxes offer a fixed telephone line, but according to the figures revealed by Arcep, fewer and fewer people are using it.

A steadily declining use for almost a decade

The latest study, which covers the last quarter of 2021, shows that the French have on average used their landline phone for 1 hour 25 minutes per month. It is quite simply the lowest duration measured by Arcep in its entire history.

In 2015, the French spent 3h15 on the phone on average each month, combining calls made in VoiP from their internet box and devices connected to the good old RTC network.

For years, the use of the fixed telephone has been decreasing, with a fall of between 10 and 15% each quarter, and this fall tends to accelerate. In the last quarter of 2021 alone, the drop in call time is -25% over this period alone. Only the period of the first confinement showed an increase in use, but this increase died out as quickly as it appeared.

Towards an end of the copper network by 2030

The fixed telephone, even if it remains present in many homes, has quite simply been supplanted by the mobile telephone, which has become by far the preferred means of communication for the French. At the end of 2021, smartphone usage for calls was 3:48 per month per SIM card. During the first confinement, the duration of use rose to 4 h 27, a record never equaled since.

For the operators, the decline in interest vis-à-vis the landline is a loss of earnings. Their revenues from this activity fell to 132 million euros, a 25% drop partially offset by the increase in roaming-related costs, which increased by 84% in the last quarter of 2021 alone.

Be that as it may, the great era of the landline telephone is ending. If the internet boxes will probably continue to offer a port to connect your handset to it, Orange has already announced the gradual closure of its copper network and a definitive cessation of services planned for 2030.

Source : The echoes